Written by

Bill Goodykoontz
Gannett

"Zero Dark Thirty" is a great movie, an astonishing achievement on nearly every level.

It's also a controversial one, generating heated debate about the intentions of the filmmakers, director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal. Their film follows the long, frustrating and, for years, fruitless search for Osama bin Laden; the film was started before he was found and killed.

The movie begins in haunting fashion, with the screen dark for a couple of minutes. We hear frantic phone calls from people trapped in the World Trade Center, a riveting reminder of the attacks that set the search ...